Leslie Horn

Today in disgusting, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that it's totally legal to take upskirt photos on public transit. Provided that the victim is wearing underwear.

The court concluded that this creepy-ass corner of photography is okay because the law only protects people who are nude or semi-nude and in private. In short, women cannot have any expectation of privacy in a public place, such as a bus or a train. Naked on the train? No upskirts. Fully clothed? Upskirts are a-okay! The decision reads:

We conclude that [the law], as written, as the defendant suggests, is concerned with proscribing Peeping Tom voyeurism of people who are completely or partially undressed and, in particular, such voyeurism enhanced by electronic devices. [The law] does not apply to photographing [or videotaping or electronically surveilling] persons who are fully clothed and, in particular, does not reach the type of upskirting that the defendant is charged with attempting to accomplish on the MBTA.

The court sided with Michael Robertson, a man who admitted to taking upskirt photographs of women on the MBTA's green line back in 2010. He owned up to being a massive creep and taking the pics, and argued that they weren't against the law because the women were not nude. And although the court sided with him, it did say that it's time for the law to be changed.